Trauma and PTSD

Tragedy, pain, heal

Life is going great. Feels like life is moving along. Maybe there are some stressors in life as we all have them, but you can deal with what is on your plate. All of a sudden, you are caught off guard and your world has fallen apart. You feel like you no longer have control of your life. Life is now completely turned upside down and out of control. Maybe you were attacked, raped, were in a car accident, seen someone suffer, lost someone close to you, seen a traumatic accident or experienced time in war. No matter what your trauma/tragedy, others may struggle to understand what you are going through. Others may think that it’s taking you too long to get over it OR you are over reacting or being dramatic. People just can’t relate to your tragedy/trauma. At some point you realize that wow maybe I need to talk with someone as I’m not moving past this OR maybe what people are saying that you shouldn’t feel this way for so long could have some truth in it. In your mind though you could have many thoughts. They could be around a “fear.” Maybe that fear is “I’m not safe,” “what if someone else attacks me,” “what if they find me,” what if it happens again,” “what if I have a flashback, I can’t be in public,” “if I stay home, I’ll be safe and don’t have to stress,” “if I don’t interact with others, I won’t be triggered.” There are so many what if’s or if’s that can go through your mind when you’ve experienced a trauma/tragedy. Fear of what “may happen” whether it could really happen or not, it’s a fear that something bad will happen. You’ve experienced feeling like the control you had of living day to day life, was taken away. A trauma/tragedy can truly leave you feeling like you’ve lost control over you own life. Sometimes this is a daily fear and sometimes it’s intermittent, but no matter how frequent it’s draining. It’s a fight. It’s a fear. This can make you question so many things about your strength, your worth, your value, or why did you let it happen, why couldn’t it have been different, why did it happen to me!! So many questions can go through your mind. Sometimes you may wonder if you are over reacting, sometimes you wonder why you can’t get past it. “Why can’t I just let it go,” “why can’t I just move forward and have a normal life?” “Why can’t I just, just be ok?” “Why can’t I change what happened?” These may be questions you ask relating to the trauma you’ve experienced. Trauma can lead to PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) when the trauma experienced leads to us not adjusting and moving forward within a short period of time. PTSD is long term reaction to a trauma that you are struggling to get past. Sometimes we just aren’t adjusting to the trauma we experienced and now there are flashbacks. All of a sudden you are triggered and now you are seeing the trauma happen again. All of a sudden you are fearful that it’s going to happen again because someone made a comment or moved a certain way. All of a sudden there is fear that you are in danger because there was a local shooting. Someone is SLAMMING on their breaks and all you are thinking is OMG I’m going to die, yet you miss hitting the car with not coming close, but you think what if!!! Your body still reacts with the same fear that an accident is going to happen even though you are safe. Your body is remembering a reaction to help keep you safe. When you experience a trauma or when you deal with the longer term symptoms of PTSD, your body is trying to keep its self safe. It may not feel this way, as it creates stress, anxiety, depression, struggles to function on a daily basis or maybe it’s intermittent. Either way your body is reacting to keep it’s self safe and guess what, your body doesn’t have to react this way, it doesn’t need to be on hyper alert Don’t get me wrong, the body needs to react with protection when necessary, but it also has to learn that sometimes it’s protective mode is over reactive. There is a way to calm the body, to help regain a sense of balance where it reacts with protection when appropriate. Your body and your mind, can regain a sense of calm. You can gain a sense of normalcy through different treatment approaches. One way is I can show you how your brain is reacting and why it is acting the way it is through actual lab tests. You can have actual proof of what is going on that is leading to your feelings of being stuck in the trauma/PTSD. No matter how minor the trauma, it can impact us differently. One person can move through the trauma/PTSD while others cannot and get stuck. I can help you get unstuck and move forward.

Symptoms you might experience with tragedy, trauma, PTSD:

Nightmares

Flashbacks

Anxiety

Depression

Stress

Worry

Sadness

Crying

Depression

Hypervigelent

Avoidance of places

Nervousness

Fidgety

Avoidance of people

Avoidance of activities

Traditional treatment for PTSD:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Exposure Therapy

Medication

My approach to treating trauma/PTSD:

EMDR

Therapy

Nutrients

Lab testing

Nutrition

Mindfulness

Calming techniques

Call (920) 471-1988

Contact me today to discover how I can help. I look forward to hearing from you. - Tina

Wisdom…

“We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.” - Steve Marakoli